Handles

Whether you’re renovating and restoring a home or lovingly updating single rooms and furniture pieces, the handles you choose are of the utmost importance. We specialise in offering thousands of design options chosen for their high quality construction, signature federation look and vintage feel. If you’re unsure of which hardware you should be choosing, we’re here to help.

To get you started, let’s take a look at where you might update handles and how you might choose them for doors, cupboards and furniture pieces. 

How to choose the right handles online

The first thing you’ve probably already decided is the style of handle you’re looking for. Styles will often be dictated by the architecture of your project so for mid-century homes or furniture pieces, you’ll be looking for mid-century style handles. 

You can choose to be bold and daring and mix up your styles, of course, but if you’re looking to evoke a particular period like Art Deco or Federation style, then choosing the right handles will offer a subtle finish and completeness like nothing else can.

When you have chosen your particular style, keep it uppermost in your mind while you’re browsing our handles. It’s easy to get side-tracked and distracted by beautiful piece after beautiful piece but the real secret to the success of well chosen handles lies in maintaining design and style synchronicity. 

We offer a free door scheduling service which is designed to remove some of the overwhelm from choosing the right door knobs and handles. We’ll ask you for a list of your doors or your house plan and what your style and finish vision is, then we’ll source a detailed quote of everything you need to order, maintaining clear design aesthetic and the perfect sizes. This service is ideal for everybody from builders and tradies to DIY-ers going it alone.

Choose from modern and antique kitchen handles 

Changing the handle over on your kitchen drawer might seem like the smallest thing in the world – the world of a few short moments with a screwdriver – but the effect is often far from small or unnoticeable. If you’re tired with your current kitchen or living space but lack the funds to gut and renovate, consider switching up just the handles and knobs first.

The right kitchen handles can lift small spaces remarkably well, working with your appliance finishes like chrome and steel to generate a holistic design aesthetic. When it comes to choosing handles for style and evoking specific periods and looks, contemporary spaces offer a lot of room to play. 

Vintage cabinet handles that would look at home in the Hamptons often look great in edgy, urban spaces as well. By contrasting highly finished period pieces with a grungy street feel, you can breathe new life into apartment spaces like your kitchen and your bedroom. 

Traditional wooden handles

New handles will reinvigorate your furniture. Wooden furniture in particular usually has a very long life-span, but even handsome furniture pieces start to look a bit boring after a decade or so. Rather than redecorating your bedroom and replacing your wardrobe, consider changing your furniture handles or door handles instead. 

Here at Restoration Online, we have a beautiful range of wooden handles to complement the look of your timber furniture. These traditional wooden handles are suitable for doors, cupboards, cabinets and more – with a range of unique timber handles to choose from.

In a practical sense, you should know your doors very well before you start choosing handles for them. The depth and thickness of door, how it swings and what kind of room you have around the open door will impact the kind of handle that not only looks good but works well too. 

There’s nothing worse than functional design failing to function and poorly chosen handles that look amazing but don’t work for your door’s weight or the room you have around it will become very annoying, very quickly. Consider whether a door pull would be best for some drawers and cupboards like your pantry door.

Lift your spaces with stylish handles

So far, we’ve covered updating or lifting existing spaces, but what if you’re renovating everywhere or building from the ground up? How do you choose the right door handles for an entire space from scratch? 

The secret is to leave it to last. While you have been designing your new spaces, you will have already made decisions about period looks or vintage design choices. You will have already decided between black and white cupboard doors and that decision would have already affected your floor type. There is a very good reason why handles are called ‘finishers’ and it’s because they always go on last.

A porcelain antique style door knob is the accent detail that will blaze from your drawer and re-energise a tall boy or chest of drawers. French provincial style scrollwork and detailing is light and delicate, and you’d be amazed at how much difference a few gentle curves can make to a box like design like a wardrobe.

If your general bedroom style is urban chic and you enjoy playing with textures and natural light, consider adding lever door handles rather than conventional round knobs to your wardrobe or your ensuite door. Brushed brass and copper enjoy dark furnishings and low light, catching lamplight and natural sunlight beautifully. If you’re stuck for space, then choose some specific design accents that will catch the eye.

The impact of choosing the right handles

Have you ever walked into a room and been staggered by how much you love that space without clearly knowing exactly why? It was probably the handles on everything. This is especially true for bathrooms where matching handles to tapware can often produce a very pleasing balance across the entire space, making it look clean, neat and very well finished.

When you choose your handles deliberately, each cupboard and door have your personal mark on it. Those handles are the things that everybody in your home will always touch. You don’t want to take that design choice for granted and it’s one of the most enjoyable parts about finishing a large-scale building and design project. It’s like choosing tapware and carpet or floorboard timber. 

So, don’t rush through it. And don’t feel overwhelmed, either. With over 40 years of restoration and building experience, we are the team of professionals who know everything there is to know about handles and we’re always happy to help a customer spend the time needed to choose the best hardware and finishing pieces because we know that those details are the ones that make all of the difference. You can forgive a few millimetres short on your kitchen bench at the end of a long build, but you can’t forgive an ugly handle.

Shop now for handles online

Restoration Online has been helping Australians find the perfect handles and knobs for every room and piece for nearly 20 years, and we can’t wait to help you find the perfect piece for your home. 

Browse through our online catalogue for inspiration or get in touch with us directly and let us know what you’re looking for. If we don’t stock exactly what you need then we can probably modify something we do have, or at least point you in the direction of the stockist who does have what you need. Shop for handles online today and enjoy fast delivery on every order.